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I have been restoring my dad's 1962 552 Wheel Horse for almost the past two years now. Been a slow process but enjoying every stage of the rebuild. So far from this... to most recently this... Anyway, had a bit of trouble getting the lift lever/hood stand assembly disassembled. Soaked with PB Blaster for a long time. Still no results getting it apart. Figured that I needed to take it to a "professional" who had more powerful persuasion tools than what I had. Took it a local Cub Cadet dealer just a couple miles from my home. Once I mentioned it was off of an old Wheel Horse tractor, he said he wouldn't touch it... wouldn't even look at it. Well, that ended our conversation rather quickly. Took it then to a farm implement dealer, specifically Wertz Farm and Power Equipment located near Lineboro, Maryland which is about 30 miles from my house. Now this area is where I grew up as a child when my dad originally purchased the 552. The technician there took it immediately and got it apart within 30 minutes. Got to talking to the old guy and he said that he lived in the area all his life and has worked at Wertz's since about 1965. I told him I grew up near there also and started talking about how I acquired my dad's tractor just a couple years ago when I had not seen it for nearly 40 years. My uncle found it two years ago and gave it to me. Well, seems this guy knew my uncle and said my uncle lives in that house over there... and he pointed across the street. I honestly did not know that. Anyway, seems this guy also worked on my grandparents farm near there when he was a lot younger like way back in the '50's. Not knowing exactly where my dad bought this Wheel Horse tractor, I asked Fred if there were any Wheel Horse dealers in this area in the early '60's. He said that this company he worked for, Wertz Farm and Power Equipment, was once a Wheel Horse dealer when the company had their location in the town of Lineboro, Md. He smiled when I showed him pics of my RJ58 and 552 and said he really liked working on the old Kohler engines but didn't care much for the Techy's as they were generally hard to start. Although, Fred said he was pretty sure that they no longer had any purchase records from the old Wheel Horse tractor sales, I am now convinced that my dad bought my 552 tractor from Wertz in Lineboro which was just a few miles from my childhood home. That's my story from my little corner of the world and I'm sticking to it. So, back to my resto project, just got done painting the original rear wheels off of my 552 and a couple of front wheels for my RJ58.They actually came out looking like new... I was able to save the original rear tires from the 552... BF Goodrich Silvertown 6-12 turfs... There is some cracking on these tires, but they are generally in pretty good condition considering how bad the whole tractor looked when I got her a few years ago. Got new inner tubes for it and a bottle of that black tire paint from m.e. Miller Tire Co, so we'll give it a try and see how they come out.

My neighbor and I both mowed our grass....both lawns were probably 8 inches high because of the wet weather we have had recently.....my neighbor has a Deere..... Mowed with a 1 year old John Deere..... Mowed with a 40 year old Wheel Horse...... You be the judge.....

I got a lot of weird looks mowing with this set up.

Hello, New member from Finland. I have been thinking about fixing my grandfathers old Commano 8, so that's how I found this forum. It hasn't been used for about 20-25 years. It is dirty and a bit rusty but I think all parts are still in place...

It felt great to be in shorts and a tee shirt mowing the grass finally. My C-165 has been quietly sleeping all winter in the shed waiting for today. She fired right up and ran great! Love that fresh mowed grass smell as well ! Mike...............

A clock that was made for me for my retirement Edited to add another picture. They were good to me. They also got me a sweet little Henry 17HMR

SEVEN THINGS A NEW WHEEL HORSE OWNER SHOULD KNOW 1.LUBERCATION, Metal on metal = worn out parts, motors, axels, bushings, and gears need oil and grease. So know where your lubrication points are, keep motor oil, trans oil, axles and bushing well lubricated. And the same for attachments mower decks, snow blowers and the like. 2. Small engines (air and oil cooled) are made to run at full speed. With splash oil systems, lubrication is decreased at low or idle speeds, also the cooling fan air volume is also decreased. Engine temp. raises dramatically at low speeds. Also maximum H.P. is at achieved only at full speed. 3. Belts, If you can, try to get O.E.M. But if not genuine Wheel Horse there are some things to consider when replacing a belt. Wheel Horse belts for the most part are "A" or "4L" size. this refers to the top width and top to bottom thickness, 1/2" wide 5/16" thick. Belts also come in smooth or notched styles. The notched belt "AX" runs cooler and can make tighter radius turns, but have a more aggressive grip and cannot be used in "clutching" applications were loosening the belt is needed to clutch. If a belt is used for clutching it's best to get a Kevlar wrapped belt. The wrapping keeps the rubber from burning when the it is "slipping" on the sheave or pulley. 4. Electrical. Older tractor wiring suffers from two main problems. UV (ultra violet/sun light) degrading of insulation and corroded wire and connections were wires meet or are terminated. When replacing wire in vehicles use a stranded style wire of the same gauge or larger of the wire your replacing. NEVER use a solid wire as vibration will work stress and break it in time. Also to help with corroded connections using silicone dielectric on the connectors helps a lot. 5. The shifter. This is a garden tractor not a race car. They should have called it the speed selector, If you here grinding noises when changing speeds you are shifting too fast, the belt need to stop before you change speeds. You will probably be able to take off in any gear from a dead stop. So you don't need to "run through the gears" like a car. 6. Keep an eye on things, Old parts can just plain were out. Once I found a fuel line not leaking but when move just a small amount fell apart, a real fire hazard. 7. The Old Wheel Horse was made before O.S.H.A. and lawyers took over our life, none the less there is some inherent dangers in the older models, open belts, pinch points, marginal breaks, lack of safety shut offs, etc. Know the dangers and limitations of you tractor.

Bob, were you mowing at the same time? You must have had a huge grin on your face if you were.

i have the new motor mounted and the back rims are painted and ready to go on.now i just need to get the front rims cleaned and painted and take it outside for fluids and to start the engine.

Drive your Horse to that church and keep going up the steps and right inside!

can you jump the starter? Bypass the solenoid/relay and just go from the battery to the starter terminals and see if that works.. at least then you will know that it is in the circuitry(although that is a pretty good guess from the blinking dash and gauge lights). IF they are all blinking at the same time and you can reproduce it, I would start tracing the power from the battery to the gauges... I know I have a key switch and a circuit board between there on my 414, but I am not sure what else the 520 has. Not that this is always true, but every one of these odd electrical gremlins that I have discovered has been caused by faulty grounds. Again, need to check the wiring diagram, but I know that on the 414 the dash circuitry, the battery, and the starter circuit were all grounded to a bolt on the tower, that was held in with a clip instead of a nut... and which had a habit of loosening up with vibration and causing it to fail to start sometimes.

It has been ages since I have posted anything. My new job has me traveling constantly so I don't have much time at home. While I have a break I thought I would share my latest project. I wanted to build a trike but after looking at a several, most used a chain and sprocket set up. I thought was a bit too complicated. If you had a tractor using a drag link for stearing it was much easier. I had the remains of a 1277 and to keep the wife happy I needed to keep cost to a minimum. So began my quest to build a trike with a simple steering set up using what I had laying around the shop. I removed the rear plate holding the front axle. I wielded two plates to the underside of the frame and mounted a 2.5 inch bearing plate that I purchased. Next I set up the frame and leveled it. I then mounted a pipe and wielded a tab to the top and drilled holes at the bottom and used all thread for my axle. I used some 4 inch wheels I had laying around. I played around for a few days with several configurations for the steering before I settled on one to use. I wielded a bolt to the end of the steering shaft. I then wielded a piece of flat bar parallel with the frame on the end. This minimised the arc of the plate as the steering wheel is turned. I then used a piece of flat bar to tie the steering plate with the front tab on the upright tube using rubber gromets and poly insert nuts to allow the bar to flex. I cut a notch in the frame at the front for clearance. It stears just fine with this set up. All of the wielding was done with a MIG which dosent get hot enough to be perminant. After disassembly the pieces were taken to my Uncle for final wielding and cutting. The only engine I had laying around was an Onan 140 Elete so that will be my power. I did a final mock up before disassembly. At this point the project is back from sand blast and I am waiting for warmer weather to begin fiinal paint and assembly. I hope to have it ready for the Wheel Horse Collectors Club Show in June. Time permitting I will post some of the build picts here. Wildbro

i am able to start painting and building the rj,the PO had pretty much destroyed the hood stand and everything attached to it.here is the finished frame

Well, I enjoy reading all the entries on this site, and admit to chuckling along with the many stories of moments of inattention that resulted in boneheaded maneuvers... However, there was always that secret glee when reading such things... the "glad I have never done that" voice in the back of my head.... Fast forward to today, when I get out of the car and manage to dump the change in my pocket onto the floor of the garage.. As I am on my hands and knees picking it up, I happen to glance into the mower deck on my tractor (looking at it from the discharge chute end.. ) and note to my chagrin that the sails on the blades are pointed downward....

I have a GT 14 with a Hydro Gear motor with bad releaf valves in the Acceleration Valve area, I would like to replace it with a good unit from a Ranger. The output drive gear is not the same on the two motors and I was wondering if anyone could give me some guidance on changing the gears. The manual has NOTHING on this. Thanks.

here I hilling the patatoas with the raider 12

I plan on making it shine at the show this year

that is great i have a new cub that my dad gave me and my 314 with a 48" sd deck is so much better at every chore its funny how much new tractors cost compared to a good hose that is so much better

Thats awesome!

The best thing a Wheel Horse can do is bring home a stablemate!

I used my dad's 1964 Wheel Horse tractor yesterday with my Wheel Horse disc attachment to break up a small garden plot my mother wanted. The disc is about 40 years old and I greased it up (about 5 or 6 fittings on this) and sharpened the discs for cutting the soil. Anyway I thought some photos were in order. It is amazing to see how the hydraulic lift lifts the disc with two cement blocks on the tractor with no problems after each pass in the garden. Here is a photo looking down at the rear hitch and disc. The disc angles can be changed by sliding the sleeve on the lift hitch arm and securing with a pin or bolt.

He mowed this morning......me this afternoon. Each time I went that direction I kept thinking....I got to snap a picture. Lol

No comparison...they saw him coming, he got took.

Remember nothing runs like a Deere and nothing mows like a Wheel Horse!

It should come as no suprise that a Deere can't out work a Horse, especialy an experianced one. I plowed and fitted my garden with my 50 year old 953, the neighbor is still waiting for dry conditions so his Deere can handle the chore, meanwhile my garden is in and sprouting!

The engine is an Onan 140 14 hp.

Another Wheel Horse saved in the nick of time !

Bought a new starter (e-bay)...it arrived yesterday and it took all of 5 minutes to remove the 2 bolts and one electrical connection and install the new unit. WOW !!! Touch the starter key and it comes to life in a split second. Marv

I realized in re-reading my post that I made lots of assumptions.. .first was that when you say it won't start, you mean that you turn the key and the starter does not function. Second is that there is a correlation between the gauges not lighting up and the starter not functioning. If this is the case, the suspicion of a loose ground wire or other major connection is greater, because it is likely that nothing is getting energized when that happens. However, if the flickering is a separate issue from the not starting, I think you may want to focus on the not starting first.

Neighbors are funny creatures. Mine all mow with different rigs. The fella across the road from me is from India. He is one of those geeky techy types that has to have a new Craftsman every year. Then there is the retired auctioneer down the road a bit with the new JD cut (he runs it up and down the road to make sure we all know he has it). Then there is the part time farmer/full time PIA. That is trying to start a lawn care service with a couple of Scags (he puts flyers in the mail boxes offering to do our lawn care). Then there's my buddy a half a mile up the road that has the Country Clipper and a 72" finish mower behind a 3000 Ford. I get along with all of them just fine. They always tell me, "You should get newer mowers, You would get done faster". But, then I get "Jeez, Your yard always looks great". It takes the missus and me about 4 1/2 hours to mow our 5 acres (lots of trees) and it looks like a big "Park" when we are done. I always tell them, " Its Sunday Funday Mowday". And, the horses gotta play. So, I'll just keep what I got, thank you very much. The only odd question I ever got? Reddy (the India guy) always asks if I have to shoot the rabbits out of the kitchen window? Not if they stay out of the garden I don't. He doesn't ask any more.

the k241 is a small base engine with a low height oil pan to be able to fit the engine under the hood...... the small base engine doesnt have the 'ears' that the larger oil pan bolts to. a special short dipper connecting rod is needed as well. there are other differences too, but these are the main 'engine' ones........ normal wheel horse spec pan on a large base engine on the left and a low height pan next to it. i see the kiwi beat me to it while i was out in the garage with the camera.....

Its been about a week now since I got the WH 812+4 up and running. I spent yesterday cleaning, greasing and rubbing around on it. But now it looks like I'm going to have to use it to mow. That is what I got it for in the first place, but I just hate to do that to it! That's what Wal-mart mowers are for. I can already see another one is in my future, just to putter around on.

I bet so, seems like most people don't even mow their own yards anymore, let alone with a nifty setup like that.

yeah the hub on my steering wheel was bored all the way.i just painted the end of the shaft red and i kinda like it.

OK......My family has been attending a new church for the last couple of months and trying to get me to go. Now it looks like I'm likely never going to start going there. My wife comes in laughing the other day about the sermon the pastor had given. He started talking about how heaven is so beautiful with green pastures. Then he says, you know, those pastures are green because there filled with John Deere tractors. Then he says, now you know where all the owners of John Deere tractors go when they pass. THEN he says, where do you think all the people go who own those "red" tractors! True story. That just isn't funny. (unless your my wife)

Or even try a quick shot of carburetor cleaner in the intake to see if it helps during cold startup. -Mark-

Here are a few more pictures of the build. I mounted my engine and it proved to be a real tight fit. I modified the battery box to just the size of my battery so that everything would fit. I had to put a small notch in the battery box to clear the steering shaft but we did get everything to fit with the exception of the air box. For now it will do I'll fab something at a later date. I connected the gauges and ran and dressed my wiring and mounted the tires. All my pieces are painted so now it is just a matter of assembly but there is still a lot to do. My Dad said the trike should have a canopy since our "Hauler" now has one So I looked around and found a sheet of aluminum plate and some plastic sheets. Some paint and a few pop rivets later I had a canopy. It gave me a good place to put some lights and I needed a place to put the radio antenna I"m hoping to finish the project over the Memorial Day weekend. Later Wildbro

Congrats on the retirement and thanks for your service! I added the Air Force to your profile (hope that's alright ) Mike.............

Seven other things new Wheelhorse owner should know: 1. First tractor isn't the last one. 2. Second tractor isn't the last one. 3. Third tractor isn't the last one. 4. Fourth tractor isn't the last one. 5. Fifth tractor isn't the last one. 6. Sixth tractor isn't the last one. 7. Seventh tractor isn't the last one and you may need a bigger garage... ;)

Got to work on it some today removed mufler and it is running very well maybe the best that it has ever ran Can you burn out the mufler like 2 cycle over camp fire I will try it and post back if it dont work what is the best place to get new one???

It could be that the hour meter is not working, I have only run it less then an 30-40 minutes since I got the motor running. (Sheared Flywheel key). It come into the local scrap yard and they unloaded it with a large grapple resulting in a crushed fender and many scratches. I straitened it out to where it is now just so the rear wheels would turn.

The rear idler pulley is most likely your problem. Either shim it out w washers or bend the bracket ever so slightly to get the belt to track dead center. Or your rear drive pulley could be pulled in or out. I recall having to shim my idler and my problems went away.

Likewise my '86 310-8, for at least that long. I ended up selling the new starter that I bought to replace it after I read the thread that Steve linked below. It's a good one, and I'll tear mine down at some point after I can't hear "the voices" over the screeches from the starter. In the meantime, it's fun to watch the mice scatter outside my shed when I start it. I'm thinking of bringing it down to our place in Virginia to try to scare the snakes out of the barn.

well i was able to get the steering shaft cut down and ready for the wheel.and as you can see the PO had to fix some cracks and i suck when it comes to bodywork so its going to stay this way for awhile.the tank straps were shot so i had to put some temporary straps for a smaller tank untill i can get the correct tank for it.

yep i got it all figured out and put together,i need to cut alittle of the steering shaft because the hole is way too large,finish painting more bits and pieces and than i can start on the hood and seat

I have been working on the trike for about 6 weeks so as promised here is an update. After the pieces were returned from sand blasting it was obvious that after sitting outside for who knows how many years the main pieces have large areas of pitting. Normally I would use glazing putty for the small stuff and bondo for the larger but in this case it would take 4 tubes of glazing putty and then some. So I decided to take care of the worst areas and leave the remaining as is. Because of the condition of the metal automotive paint was out of the question since it would amplify all the flaws. I decided to go with Tractor Supply IH Red since I have half a gallon left over from another project. This left my budget with some money to add some frills I have been wanting to try for some time. When I was younger I restored/modified cars (God I wish I had that $$$ back) sooooo I thought why not add some custom stuff Under body neon lighting is neat so why not? I found a small kit with six lights that can product three colors Red, Green and Blue. I will set it for Red. Installation is best done before attaching the sub frame to the transmission. I decided to install the steering tower so I can finish my wiring without other parts getting in the way. I added a gauge cluster that has Volt Meter, Oil Pressure and Oil Temp. I found a motorcycle AM/FM Radio so what the heck might as well have some tunes. A few lighted toggle switches complete the package. When the wiring is complete I will Install the engine, add the dash so I can complete the wiring process. The trike is being built to pull our "Hauler" Since the umbrellas did not work well I am taking some time off this week to fabricate a "surry" top complete with fringe. Hopefully my idea for the frame works Thats it for now. Will post more later. Wildbro

here's my 400

Thanks Keith. I sometimes think I put to much time in the details. I dont know that I will have the patience to continue with the detail as I progress.. I would like to have this thing done when the weather breaks and I can spray the sheet metal. I did a car 20 years ago and assisted on 2 others and I shutter to think about the man hours I spent doing it. I took this to this I was a lot younger then and it was a labor of love. It was a joy to do it but I never want to do it again. Garden tractors are more my size now.

......and here's one of the best ones yet :

I just moved mine so I had to empty it. Cleaner still looked good with a lot of gunk on the tank bottom. I use Next Dimension 5 Gallon Parts Cleaner from Advance Auto. It's $65. The cleaner is green. Even if I let parts soak a few days I still have to use the brush pretty good on them. They have some very strong and expensive cleaners out there but aren't easy to find.